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The TOSHIBA Rice Cooker is a versatile kitchen tool with intuitive controls. I use my rice cooker twice a day, for breakfast and supper. I’m a big fan of rice cookers. They speed up food prep and allow you to take advantage of healthy and affordable foods. I’m an endurance runner, and most of my running friends consider a rice cooker to be a crucial bit of running gear. Unlike my other rice cooker in this price range, the TOSHIBA has dedicated settings for different kinds of rice to ensure the rice comes out perfect, whether it be brown, white or the very nutritious (and tricky to cook well) GABA rice. You can also dial in the cooking by intended outcome, from sticky sushi rice to congee. (If you’ve not tried congee yet, give it a try. It is a very versatile soup base that can create a yummy soup with no supervision. It’s a real comfort food.) Punching above its price point, the TOSHIBA Rice Cooker has a setting for steaming and includes a steaming tray. You can use this to steam a healthy basket of fresh vegetables, though I confess I use it more to steam asian dumplings, my comfort food. Also rare at this price point is the TOSHIBA Rice Cooker, which has smart heating which automatically increases and reduces the temperature to get the most flavour out of the rice. That’s not marketing jargon-the rice does taste better compared to rice cooked on the stove. The TOSHIBA Rice Cooker has a small footprint and won’t take up too much real estate on your crowded countertop. There’s a carry handle to make it easy to put away, though once you start using a rice cooker, it will not leave your countertop. At around 28 cm square, the cooker takes up less counter space than my espresso machine. (And, it is much less messy!) :-) The TOSHIBA Rice Cooker has a thick, heavy cooking pot lined with a nonstick coating. It is not dishwasher recommended, but I never put nonstick items through the harsh chemicals of a dishwasher, as it is easy to clean the pot by hand. Water levels are marked on the side for various kinds of rice. That’s one thing I’d change-the grey type is slightly challenging to read, and I wish the type were in a larger typeface and printed in black ink. The cooker has a 24-hour timer, but I’m not comfortable leaving rice or oatmeal sitting in a room-temperature pot of water all day, so I tend to use the timer for shorter periods. It is intuitive and easy to set. All the controls are there, and I appreciate the dedicated buttons for each function. The steam vent is easy to clean, which is an essential feature if you make oatmeal in your pot. I make steel-cut oatmeal for breakfast every morning, and the TOSHIBA Rice Cooker delivers a perfectly cooked bowl with no stirring or supervision. I can catch up on my email and news while the Toshiba does the heavy lifting. Steel-cut oatmeal is such a healthy food, and costs pennies a serving. It is a great carb base for a morning run, full of energy and easy to digest with no sugar crash. In a culture where none of us have enough time and the cost of healthy food continues to rise, a rice cooker is a good way to destress meal prep and utilize low-cost, nutritious foods. Rice and porridge are staples in my pantry, and are easy to buy and store in economical bulk purchases. Rice is an ideal base for many meals and helps reduce the stress of trying to figure out supper after a busy day at work. Treat yourself to a rice cooker. You can thank me later! :-)